Women make bread from antic wheat

MARDİN

Sorgül,’ which is known as the oldest Mesopotamian wheat, has turned into tandoor bread with the labor of women in the southeastern province of Mardin.

During the fieldwork carried out as part of a project which was launched in 2017, five out of the eleven oldest species of wheat of Mesopotamia were retrieved and two tonnes of these seeds were planted in its fields to be reproduced.

Produced as a seed being planted in Mardin Plain with good agricultural practices and traditional techniques, Sorgül’s sorting process, which has yielded over 400 tons of harvest in 1400 acres, has ended after.

The wheat obtained was first transformed into flour and eventually into bread.

Sorgül has been revived in the context of the “Living Soil Local Seed Project” financed by the EU.

The project was implemented by UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization and the Şükraan Economic and Agricultural and Social Development Support Association.

The project aimed to increase the number of employment of women while 310 women are employed in the revitalization of the seed.